Want
to see movie and TV stars risk death right in front of your eyes? Then
come to Long Beach on an early Saturday in April.

Since
it began in 1974, the annual Long Beach Grand Prix road race has
become this beachside city's biggest event, a three-day festival attracting
world-class Indy 500 drivers from around the world, and featuring Indy
cars roaring through the streets of downtown Long Beach at 200 miles per
hour. The race is even covered live by ABC's "Wide World of Sports."

Sunday's
big professional race is preceded by a week of festivities. On the day before
Sunday's main race, visitors can watch qualifying races, time trials, and
visit the Indy Car garage.

But the most popular Saturday event involves
watching Hollywood celebrities compete against each other (and famous sports
figures) in the 10-lap Pro/Celebrityrace, which attracts
stars from the movies, TV and the sports world.

The38th annual Celebrity
Grand Prix will be run at noon on Saturday, April 18, 2015.

This year's eclectic group of celeb drivers will include Robert Patrick (star of "Terminator 2", who now plays ‘Agent Cabe Gallow’ on CBS’s “Scorpion”), Alfonso Ribeiro ('Carlton Banks' on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and who won "Dancing with the Stars"), Mekhi Phifer(who played ‘Dr. Greg Pratt’ “ER”, and is now in the “Divergent” sequel, “Insurgent”), Mark McGrath, (lead singer of the alt band Sugar Ray), John Rzeznik (lead singer of the Goo Goo Dolls), Edy Ganem, who plays ‘Valentina Diaz’ on “Devious Maids”), James Maslow (who played 'James Diamond' in “Big Time Rush”, and appeared on “Dancing With The Stars”), Nathan Kress (who played 'Freddie Benson' in Nickelodeon’s “iCarly”), Joshua Morrow (who plays ‘Nicolas Newman’ on “The Young and The Restless”), Mexican telenova star Raul Mendez, model & TV hostess Donna Feldman, Steve Mason, ESPN Radio host of “The Mason & Ireland Show”, and Willie Gault, NFL wide receiver for the Chicago Bears and the L.A. Raiders.

In the qualifying race on Friday, Stephen Moyer
had the fastest time and captured the pole position for Saturday’s race.
But in the process, he ran into a wall and rolled his car in a nasty-looking
crash. He bowed out of the actual race, since "True Blood" was in production and they didn't want to lose their star. Kevin Jonas
crashed in the actual race. Neither star was hurt.

In 2008, the writers strike interfered with the race,
but celebs still included "That '70s Show" star Wilmer Valderrama
('Fez'). The 2008 winner turned out to be none other than Jamie Little,
ABC/ESPN's NASCAR gal, only the second woman to win the race. ("Ratatouille"
producer Brad Lewis led for most of the way, but John Salley crashed into
a wall, and Nancy Lieberman crashed into him, and the resulting yellow
flag cost him his lead.)

In
2007, the celebrity drivers included "Star Wars" creator
George Lucas, Chris Klein
('Oz' in "American Pie"),
Joshua Morrow ('Nicholas Newman' on "The Young
and the Restless"), and a surprising number of female drivers,
including Emily Procter ('Calleigh
Duquesne' on "CSI: Miami", who didn't know how to
drive a manual transmission), Kathryn Morris('Lily Rush' on "Cold Case"), tennis great
Martina Navratilova, Aisha Tyler
("CSI"), actress/model Kelly Hu
and Robin Quivers (Howard Stern's
radio co-host).

That year, George Lucas managed to get in a wreck
attempting an impossible pass on the hairpin turn, slamming into a wall
of tires, and then being hit head-on (by a driver who had won the right
to be in the race in a charity auction). Dave Mirra, a professional BMX
rider, won the race. Martina Navratilova came in second in the wreck-shortened
race, and Joshua Morrow came in third.

In
2006, the celebrity drivers included William Shatner
('Captain Kirk' on "Star Trek", 'Denny Crane'
on "Boston Legal"), returning champion Frankie Muniz
("Spy Kids"), tennis superstar Martina Navratilova,
American idol favorite Bo Bice,
NFL Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway,
Patrick Dempsey ("Sweet Home
Alabama", 'Dr. Derek Shepherd ' on “Grey’s Anatomy"),
Antonio Sabato Jr.(“The Bold and the Beautiful”, “Melrose Place”),
William Fichtner ('Sheriff Underlay'
on "Invasion"), Olympic Gold Medalist gymnast Shannon
Miller, Roger Cross ('Curtis
Manning' on "24"), Paul Caine
(the publisher of "People" magazine) and many others. An
accident during the race took out Antonio Sabato Jr., and William Shatner
also took a hit . The winner in 2006 was extreme skateboarder Bucky
Lasek. John Elway came in second and Martina Navratilova
got third place.

The winner in 2005 was Frankie Muniz('Malcolm' on "Malcolm in the Middle"), in a celebrity
race that featured a lot of crashes. "General Hospital" star
Ingo Rademacher smashed into the tire
barriers on the first turn (and again at the end, along with Olympic swimmer
Aaron Peirsol). Frankie's "Malcolm"
co-star, Justin Berfield('Reese'),
totaled his car during practice Friday, crashed again during qualifying,
and went into the tires in the big race, colliding with Patrick Dempsey("Sweet Home Alabama," "Iron Jawed Angels"),
along the way. Other 2005 celebrity drivers included singer Meat Loaf(I Would Do Anything for Love / "Fight Club"),
Mark Steines(anchor on "Entertainment Tonight"),
Karl Malone(future NBA Hall-of Famer
with Lakers and Jazz),Paige Hemmis("Extreme Makeover: Home Edition"), and U.S. Olympic medalists
Amanda Beard (swimming) and Misty
May (Beach Volleyball).

In
2003, celebrity drivers included JoshBrolin
(Senator ‘Bill Sterling' on "Mr.Sterling"),
actress & model Angie Everhart,
Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin
(the second man to walk on the moon), Olympic Skiing Champion PicaboStreet,
Country Music artist Tommy Shane Steiner,
Peter Reckell (‘Bo Brady'
on "Days of Our Lives" , who won this year's race), Adam
Carolla (co-host of "The Man Show" and the
radio show "Loveline"), Jesse James
(host of Discovery Channel's "Monster Garage", who won
the race), Steve Hartman (sportscaster
for KCBS-TV) and Tony Potts (reporter
for "Access Hollywood"). Josh Brolin's girlfriend, actress
Diane Lane, was also there, and
planted a kiss on Josh after the race.

Celebrity racers in 2002's race included Star
Trek's 'Captain Picard', Patrick Stewart,
producer James Cameron ("Terminator",
"Titanic"), Thomas Gibson
(‘Greg' in "Dharma and Greg"), supermodel Angie
Everhart, Goran Visnjic
(‘Dr. Luka Kovac' in "ER"), Dulé
Hill (‘Charlie Young' in "The West Wing"),
Christopher Titus ("Titus"),
Jacob Young (‘Lucky Spencer,'
ABC's "General Hospital"), Patrick
Warburton ("Seinfeld," "The Tick"),
pro-wrestler/actor Bill Goldberg,
and two cast members from "Malcolm in the Middle": Christopher
Kennedy Masterson (‘Francis') and Brian Cranston
(‘Hal'). For the first time, a woman won the celebrity race, Olympic gold
medal swimmer Dara Torres finished
first in 18:21. "Malcolm's" Chrisopher Masterson came in
second, while Mark-Paul Gosselaar
("Saved By the Bell," "NYPD Blue")
hit a wall and spun out, but still finished in 19:05. (Although James Cameron,
Thomas Gibson and Angie Everhartwere
originally on the list of participants, they bowed out before the race
began.)

The
2001 celeb winner was actor Josh Brolin
("Mod Squad", "Hollow Man"), whose father,
James Brolin (husband of Barbra Streisand) won the same race in 1978.
Josh also won in 2000. In 2001he was beaten by professional driver Scott Pruett
(remember, this is a pro-am, where the celebrities race against the pros).

In both 1997 & 1998, the celebrity winner
was Sean Patrick Flanery("Young Indiana
Jones" & "Powder"). The winner in 1996
was Grant Show (who plays Jake
on "Melrose Place"). Alfonso Ribeiro
took the checkered flag in both 1995 and 1994.

Other recent entrants have included Tim
Allen(star of "Home Improvement"), Matt
LeBlanc(Joey on "Friends"), William
Shatner(Captain Kirk of "Star Trek"), Craig
T. Nelson("Coach"), Jason Priestly
(Brandon on "Beverly Hills 90210"), AnthonyEdwards (Dr. Mark Greene on "E.R."), the
singing Nelsontwins ("Love
& Affection"), Sean Astin
(son of Patty Duke & John Astin, and star of the 1993 movie "Rudy"),
Mark Curry(star of TV's "Hangin'
with Mr Cooper"), Mark-Paul Gosselaar
(Zack in "Saved By the Bell"), Perry
King ("Melrose Place"), Sharon Lawrence
("NYPD Blue"), Jason Gedrick
("Murder One"), Stephen Root
(Jimmy on "NewsRadio"), Kate
Linder("The Young and the Restless"), as well
as a host of local newscasters, pro baseball players, NFL football players...
even local radio D.J.'s.

Each participant competes in an identically prepared
Toyota Celica GT Liftback. The celebrity race takes ten laps (and about
14 minutes) to cover the 15.9-mile race. So, while the stars' race cars
can reach 130 mph, most of the time the actual speed of the race is
more like 66 mph.

Still, celebrity racing can be dangerous. In both
1994 and 1995, for instance, TV star Mark-Paul Gosselaar
was taken out of the race early when his race car was hit by cars driven
by world champion jet-skier Cristy Carlson
and "ER "'s Anthony Edwards.
And in 1995, Matt LeBlanc of "Friends"
hit a wall. In 1997, defending champ Grant Show
was taken out of the race when he was hit by a car driven by Jason
Bateman. (And in 2002 Jason Priestly was racing in Kentucky
when he hit a wall head-on at 180 mph, breaking his back and receiving
head injuries - fortunately, his prospects for recovery looked good.)

The sport of auto racing has attracted a number of
big Hollywood names over the years, including Jay Leno,
David Letterman, Paul
Newman, Gene Hackman, Tom
Cruise and Marsha Mason,
all of whom are hooked on the checkered flag.

In Sunday's main (pro)Grand Prix race,
such world-famous racing names as Michael Andretti,Mauricio Gugelmin, Paul
Tracy,Dario Franchitti,Alex Zanardi &Kenny
Brack compete head to head for $1.2 million in prize money as
their cars roar up Shoreline Drive and down Seaside Way at breathtaking
speed, slowing only for the hairpin turns. Massive bleachers and scaffolding
go up along the race route weeks in advance. The winding race route covers
81laps of a 1.97-mile course on the streets circling the Long Beach Convention
Center complex, for a race time of just under two hours. The route offers
the Queen Mary and the blue Pacific as a colorful background.

While the methanol-burning, open-cockpit Indy cars
can go from 0 to 100 in 4.5 seconds, and can reach speeds in excess of
230 mph in the straight-aways, the many turns on the route slows the average
speed down to just under 100 mph. (The record for one full lap is 109 mph).

The big race creates a festival atmosphere downtown,
drawing over 200,000 visitors each year to Long Beach, with the all of
the accompanying traffic and parking problems you might expect. Many people
who don't really care about Indy cars come just to be part of the international
party scene. The event attracts celebrity spectators as well. In 1994,
the Long Beach crowd included former-Beatle George
Harrison and rocker Tom Petty,
who were watching the race together from the grandstands. In 1996, Olivia
Newton-John was spotted eating lunch at the race, while Paul
Newman was seen motoring around on a red moped. Paul was also
expected at the 1999 race, as were David Letterman,
Tim Allen, LeAnn Rimes
and baseball great Robin Yount. Rock
guitarist Jeff Beck played tha
National Anthem to start the race. A surprise at the 1999 race was Nicolas
Cage, who was photographed signing a t-shirt for a fan.

Be warned: this isn't an inexpensive way to spend
a weekend: three-day passes with reserved seats will cost you $90 to $135
(depending on your seat), not to mention parking or Indy garage passes.
But if you have the cash, you'll be in for a major treat. And it is
possible to get Saturday general admission alone for $62 (for the celeb
race) or Sunday-only general admission for $72 (for the main race).

The course takes the race cars past the new Long
Beach Aquarium of the Pacific, with a view of the Queen Mary, as well as
Shoreline Village and the new Pike.

Parking:
Official "Circuit Parking" is $15 for Sunday Only, and $40 /
$50 for three day parking. Parking spots can be reserved in advance when
you buy tickets.

Parking elsewhere can be a pain as well as an added
expense. There are over a dozen paid parking lots in the area. Phone for
a list of this year's available parking areas. You might also consider
taking the Metro Blue Line, or one of the RTD buses which leave from nearby
sites, such as Los Altos Shopping Center, Marina Pacifica mall, and Cal-State
Long Beach. The fare is low, and the bus drops you off at the transit station
on 1st street, near Long Beach Boulevard.

Admission Price:

General Admission only:

All three days: $75
Saturday only: $48
Sunday only: $55

Admission plus a reserved seat:

All three days: $135 & $90
Saturday only: $62
Sunday only: $72 & $83

Hours: The
Grand Prix is held on a weekend in mid-April.

The Celebrity race takes place on Saturday starting
around noon. The celebs also have qualifying races the day before, Friday,
usually before noon.

Practice and qualifying for the main Grand
Prix race is on Friday & Saturday, until about 4 PM. The pro Grand Prix
finals are on Sunday, beginning around noon. Days and hours may change.
Phone for details of this year's race & festival.

Getting
there: The Grand Prix cars race through
the streets of downtown Long Beach, just south of Ocean Boulevard and northeast
of Shoreline Village; a route which includes Shoreline Drive and Seaside
Way. / From Hollywood, take the Hollywood (101) Freeway south (about
seven miles) to the Santa Monica Freeway, and take the Santa Monica (5)
Freeway east (about five miles) to the Long Beach Freeway. Then take the
Long Beach (710) Freeway south (about 18 more miles) to the downtown Broadway
exit. Go east on Broadway to Long Beach Boulevard, then turn right (south)
to Ocean Boulevard and the Grand Prix race route. (Beware of road closures
on race day. Phone ahead to find out which streets will be blocked off.)

[For more information on this
subject, you can access the Grand Prix's official website at: http://www.gplb.com.]

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endorsements by them of any kind, and are used by the author solely to
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